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Latest News from the International Guild of Town Pipers

Compiled and edited by Alan Radford

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Latest News

!!! The Fifth Festival of the International Guild of Town Pipers !!!
Tue 01 May 2012 19:00 GMT - Tthe Fifth International Festival of Town Pipers approaches fast, taking place over the long weekend the 2nd to 4th of June 2012 in Colchester, in association with the well-established medieval-themed Colchester Medieval Festival (formerly the Oyster Fayre), with performance sites in the Castle Park and around the town centre. Musicians are attending from England, the Netherlands, Sweden and the USA, with eleven member bands taking part - from Baggeshotte, Charlotte, Colchester, Doncaster, Ely, Gloucester, Leeds, Lincoln, Kings Lynn, 's-Hertogenbosch and York. Full programme details have been posted in the "Festivals" section of the website, some including music for "The Big Blow" in a password-protected section linked from the bottom of the Colchester Festival page. If you are an attending performer, ask your group contact, the IGTP webmaster or any of the three IGTP Directors for the password.

Music Licensing Victory for Waits
Wed 02 May 2012 08:50:00 GMT - English waits are delighted that the Government has at last come to its senses over the regulation of live music. Essentially, from October 1st 2012 we will be free to play our unampified music anywhere between 8.00am and 11.00pm without the need for a public entertainment licence. See the linked DCMS guidance for details and any remaining restrictions. Perhaps we should all make a point of going out and performing on October 1st to assert our newly restored rights.

Chalemie Summer School with Tim Bayley
Mon 06 Feb 2012 08:30:00 GMT - Tim Bayley of The York Waits will be teaching this year at the Chalemie Summer School in Oxford, from 14-19 August. Others teaching there will be Matthew Spring (hurdy-gurdy, viol etc.), Katie Hodges (natural trumpet) and Sarah Stowe (voice). The summer school also has classes in baroque dance, commedia and historical costume making,

Dartington Summer School with William Lyons
Mon 06 Feb 2012 08:40:00 GMT - William Lyons and The City Musick will again be running their Dartington summer school "The Topping Tooters of the Town" from 28 July to 4 August. This course will examine the wide range of music played by the Waits.

Programme on Waits on Youtube
Fri 24 Feb 2012 15:15:00 GMT - A decade ago, in a programme called "At home with Healey", Tim Healey, Charles Spicer' and Edward Fitzgibbon of the Oxford Waits and James Merryweather of the York Waits discussed the history of town waits, their music and duties. This programme has been dusted down and is now to be found on Youtube, illustrated with relevant images by our webmaster.

Waits on the radio - March 22nd
Fri 30 Mar 2012 08:45 GMT - Last December, in conjunction with the York Waits' annual "Yule Riding", William Lyons of "The City Musick" recorded music and interviews for a radio programme on waits and their music. The programme contains music by The York Waits and The City Music and commentary by William Lyons complemented by contributions from James Merryweather, Tim Healey, Richard Rastall and Peter Holman on waits, their duties, instruments, repertoire and history. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 11.30-12.00 on 22 March.Two days after being broadcast, a clip from the programme was being featured on the BBC Radio 4 "Pick of the Week" programme.

Merryweather's "York Music"
Mon 06 Feb 2012 08:50:00 GMT - James Merryweather's "York Music: the story of a city's music from 1304 - 1896" is long out of print. However, for anyone interested in this detailed study of a well-documented waits group, a few second-hand copies are available from booksellers through AbeBooks and Amazon.

IGTP Events page updates
Sat 28 Apr 2012 19:00:00 GMT - The IGTP Events page is now listing public events by member bands up to the end of October 2012, including of course the Fifth International Festival in Colchester. The listing generally covers the next six months, so please send details of your band's forthcoming events to waits.events@btinternet.com.

RSS news feed
Tue, 06 Apr 2010 16:00:00 GMT - The IGTP has included this RSS news feed into the Waits' Website homepage to provide the latest news about waits and their musical activities. It is maintained by Alan Radford, and relevant news items may be submitted to waits.events@btinternet.com

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